Christmas in Georgetown
by writingmom
Summary: A short little story based on the episode A Merry Little Christmas.


A/N: Just some Christmas fluff based on "A Merry Little Christmas." JAG and its characters do not belong to me.

* * *

Mac awakened to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She grabbed her robe and wiped the sleep from her eyes as she headed for the door. Looking through the peephole, she was surprised to see Harm standing in the hall.

She opened the door with a puzzled look on her face.

His look was intense. His eyes were full of question, hurt and determination.

"Harm? What is it? Is everything o.k.?" She stepped aside so that he could come in.

He walked past her with his hands still in his coat pockets.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why what?" Mac was completely taken aback by his presence in her apartment at this hour.

"Why did you do it?"

"Harm, it's late. For once can we please stop talking in riddles?"

He looked at the ground, as if willing himself to say the next sentence.

"Why did you help me with Mattie?"

She could tell that that wasn't the thought that he'd been pondering. This was a diversionary tactic in the conversation. She could read him like a book.

Crossing her arms against her chest, she replied. "You know why."

He shot her an intense look.

"Do I?" They were repeating themselves.

"Yes, you do."

The hurt on his face was replaced with longing and confusion. They were talking around the subject once again, and yet he knew what she was trying to say.

"And tonight…did you see Clay?"

"No."

He nodded as if he knew that she hadn't been with him.

"Why? Why did you tell me you were going to see him?"

"I didn't want to intrude on the special moment."

"You know you wouldn't have been intruding."

"No, Harm, I don't know that. I don't know anything about you anymore except that I—"

She bit her lip as if to hold in the words that were about to spill out of her mouth.

"You what?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Why? Why doesn't it matter?" His voice was getting louder and his impatience growing.

"Because you've moved on! For the hundredth time! You've moved on!" She was surprised at the tears forming in her eyes.

His hands were now out of his pockets and waving in the air. He was so stunned at her comment that he could barely find the words. "_Me_? Me. You think that _I_ have moved on?" His eyes looked like they were going to come out of his head.

She knew that this was headed nowhere fast.

"Forget it. Harm, I don't know why you came here tonight, but I hope that you've gotten your answer."

He took a deep breath to refocus.

"No, I haven't."

She looked up, confused.

"I need to know two things."

She barely nodded, as if signaling him to go on.

"Are you and Clay together?"

She hated this question. It was less humiliating when Harm thought that someone else out there wanted her and was willing to tell her. Now the charade was over. She couldn't lie.

"No."

"Were you…were you ever a couple?"

"No." She spat.

He took another deep breath and sat on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Last question."

"That was already two." She tried to lighten the mood.

He smirked, but was still clearly on a mission.

"What you said in Paraguay. Did you really mean it?" It was difficult for him to say the words. The pain was clearly still fresh in his mind and she hated that; hated that she had put it there.

The dam was about to break. Now he knew about Webb, and he was about to know that she considered herself a bigger fool than he did. She inhaled deeply and walked over to the window. She looked out over the parking lot, the white lights from the tree blinking like miniature traffic signals beside her. She was staring out in to nowhere; a place that seemed far away. She felt like she was getting ready to leap off the building, unsure if there would be someone there to catch her or not, but in this place, in this moment, she knew that it was time to jump.

"No, I didn't."

There was a long silence. Finally he stood from the couch, unsure of what to do next. Mac kept staring out in to nowhere. She felt like she was suspended in mid air. Soon she felt his hands on her shoulders. Her knees went weak. She was physically and emotionally ready to collapse.

"Mac." He turned her slowly to face him, but she couldn't. She had never felt so exposed, so vulnerable in all her life.

He lifted her chin. "What do you want most out of life?" He again referred to a past conversation.

Looking up at him with dark, chocolate eyes that made his own knees go weak, she said, "What I want most is to never lose you." A single tear slid freely down her cheek as if it being freed from captivity.

He let out a breath that immediately erased the pain on his face. He slid his hand upward and cupped her face in his hand, his thumb moving back and forth over her cheek. She covered his hand with her own and leaned in to his embrace.

Without another word, he leaned in slowly to begin the most passionate, tender kiss he had ever given or received.


End file.
